Vivek Wadhwa Makes Great Case Against Vivek Wadhwa on WNYC | Gawkr Newsfeed (February 20): “In the process of defending himself, Vivek Wadhwa ended up confirming much of what TL;DR asserted about his attitude. Here’s someone who’s been criticized for figuratively talking over women, and we hear him literally talking over Haggerty and then asking to bring in her producers when he doesn’t like where she’s taking the conversation.”

Let’s Talk About “Comfort Zones” | K. Tempest Bradford (February 26): “However, in sticking to women, people of color, LGBT, and other authors from marginalized identities, I was not reading in a “comfort zone.” I was not more comfortable, I was just less likely to run across fiction that hurt me. But the stories were certainly not universally comfortable to read. Not at all.”

Team Angry Cat | thefourthvine (February 24): “So I explained about how we got on the topic of elevators. As soon as I said, “He said I should’ve taken the stairs,” ten women around the table looked up and angry cat hissed in unison. “

The Next MacGuyver: “Can you imagine that next female hero that will inspire a generation of young women to see themselves as engineers?”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Not a “Good Guy” | Anil Dash (February 24): “But I’m a regular guy, just like most of the people who read this site are regular folks. I am dedicated to improving the deep and pervasive sexism in our industry. I am also a man who doesn’t do his share of work around the house. I disproportionately foist the burden of childcare on to my wife, despite the fact that she is, in addition to the best person I’ve ever met, an actual Woman In Technology.”

There’s No Morality in Exercise: I’m a Fat Person and Made a Successful Fitness App | Matter | Medium (February 12): “the story I got told about what it meant to have a fat body, that it must mean that I sat around all day eating deep-fried stuffed-crust pizza and watching TV—that story just wasn’t true. The story about how people who look like me hate to exercise just isn’t true. It’s so easy to let the media you see or the discourse you hear define who you are before you’ve even learned about yourself. And I bought into it for too long.”

Revenge porn boss wants Google to remove his “identity related” info | Ars Technica (February 24): “What do you do if you’re a revenge porn site operator and the Federal Trade Commission has barred you from publishing nude images of people without their consent? You demand that Google remove from its search engine links to news accounts about the FTC’s action and other related stories, citing “unauthorized use of photos of me and other related information.””

The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman | Pricenomics (February 19): “The outcry was so tremendous that vos Savant was forced to devote three subsequent columns to explaining why her logic was correct. Even in the wake of her well-stated, clear responses, she continued to be berated. “I still think you’re wrong,” wrote one man, nearly a year later. “There is such a thing as female logic.””

I Spoke About Feminism to a Buncha Dudes at a Tech Conf & it Was Actually Pretty Good | Puppet Labs (February 11): “Being inclusive is tough, especially if you are trying to include people who are so used to being on the outside that they keep themselves there. For example, I’m offered the chance of a lifetime to fly to Barcelona to talk about feminism, and my response is to feel microscopic. Shouldn’t an opportunity like that make me feel big, or at least not-bad? And there’s the fact that I didn’t feel technical enough to give a talk about the work that I do every day, and I still don’t”

Why the ‘Women in Tech’ Problem May Actually Be a Silicon Valley Problem | Inc (February 25): “But some new research from SmartAsset, which draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that if you’re a woman working in tech, Silicon Valley really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For women, the hotbed of tech innovation is more likely to be New York, where the sheer of women working in tech is three times that of Silicon Valley. And while women face a substantial pay gap compared to men in Silicon Valley, there are two other major metro areas where women working in tech actually get paid more, on average, then their male colleagues.”

Institutional Barriers for Women of Color at Code Schools | Model View Culture (February 24): “Unfortunately, for many of the same reasons that WoC don’t make it into the interview rooms of tech companies, we often don’t make it into the interview rooms of these tuition-free or scholarship-providing code schools. We can trace this back to the pipeline problem, imposter syndrome, and the reality that many of us are caretakers who have people that rely on our time and our income.”

Silicon Valley Could Learn a Lot From Skater Culture. Just Not How to Be a Meritocracy | Wired (February 23): “If we’re going to talk about skate culture as a positive influence, we must take lessons from the good and the bad. Especially the bad. To ignore skate culture’s utter disrespect for women while celebrating it as cool and innovative is tacit acceptance of its sexism. We can do better. We must do better. We are better. And way deep down, I still hold out hope that skate culture might get better too.”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

You’re Excluding Stories By Straight, White, Cis Men? J’accuse! J’accuse! | K Tempest Bradford (February 22): “Reading only women for a year takes some thought and effort. And if you do that, people hardly ever assume that it happened Just Because or On Accident or because you were Just Reading The Best Books Regardless Of The Identity Of The Author. […] A reviewer who makes the choice to focus exclusively on marginalized voices is making a good choice. There are plenty of places for the privileged to get and gain attention. Making a space for everyone else is not bias, it’s a step towards balance.”

Teachers’ gender bias in maths affects girls later | Sue Wilson at The Conversation (February 25): “The researchers followed nearly 3000 students from 6th grade to the end of high school. As a measure of teacher bias, they compared school 6th grade test marks given by teachers who knew the students’ sex, with external test marks for the same students, but with no identifying characteristics provided. The researchers identified that a worrying number of teachers gave boys higher maths test results than girls of the same ability. They also studied the long-term effects of this bias. The study found that the effects of teacher bias (measured by giving lower marks in mathematics for the same standard of work as boys) persisted for girls, leading to poorer results through their high school years. However, many boys whose teachers over-assessed their performance in the early years went on to be successful in mathematics and science.”

JamForLeelah: Trans Positive Game Jam | Matthew Boucher and Kara Jayne (February 22): [warning for discussion of abuse and suicide] “JamForLeelah is a month long trans positive game jam to raise awareness on LGBTIQ issues, specifically trans youth issues and Leelah’s Law as well as an attempt to raise money for trans specific charities such as the Transgender Law Center, Camp Aranu’tiq, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. […] Leelah expressed an intense interest in not only gaming, but game development as well. She made this clear on both her Tumblr and Reddit accounts, so an indie game jam felt like a possible way to raise awareness for Leelah’s plea for social change, in a method she may not have only approved of, but also taken part in.”

I tried tracking my period and it was even worse than I could have imagined | Maggie Delano at Medium (February 23): “yet another example of technology telling queer, unpartnered, infertile, and/or women uninterested in procreating that they aren’t even women. It’s telling women that the only women worth designing technology for are those women who are capable of conceiving and who are not only in a relationship, but in a sexual relationship, and in a sexual relationship with someone who can potentially get them pregnant. Read: straight, sexually active, partnered, cis women with enough money for a smartphone to run the app.”

Man Who Terrorized Brianna Wu For Months Says He Was Just Kiddin Around | Jezebel (February 24): [warning for discussion of threats and harassment] “The problem with Gamergate is you can’t satirize these people. I can’t stress this enough: the wider point here is the gamification of the harassment of women.” It’s already hard enough to get law enforcement to take threats against women online seriously. Wu worries that Rankowski’s hilarious joke will give police yet another excuse not to investigate violent threats online.”

The Harassment Game | Mikki Kendall at Model View Culture (February 23): [warning for discussion of threats and harassment] “And it dawned on me, there is no life after being harassed if you’re a marginalized person speaking up on the internet. Whether my harassment comes from talking about race in 2009, abortion in 2011, feminism in 2013, or some brand new topic in 2015, it’s clearly a part of my life. My choices are never speak, or be harassed for speaking. The topics really don’t matter. Because none of this is about ethics in game journalism, protecting the unborn, or defending feminism, comics, or science fiction from the perceived threat of people wanting them to be more inclusive.”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

DiversityMediocrityIllusion | Martin Fowler (January 13): “A common argument against pushing for greater diversity is that it will lower standards, raising the spectre of a diverse but mediocre group.” Martin Fowler explains why that’s nonsense.

On the Wadhwa Within, and Leaving | Medium (February): “That’s why I’m wary of the villainization of Vivek Wadhwa. For all that he is cartoonishly bad, going after him full force has the effect of drawing a bright line between Good People who see and crow over the error of Wadhwa’s ways and Bad People like Vivek. “

Video Games’ Blackness Problem | Evan Narcisse on Kotaku (February 19): “I decided to email with several prominent black critics and game developers to start a conversation. What is the source of video gaming’s blackness problem? What is to be done? I enlisted games researcher and critic Austin Walker, Treachery in Beatdown City developer Shawn Alexander Allen, Joylancer developer TJ Thomas and SoulForm developer and Brooklyn Gamery co-founder Catt Small to talk about what we all thought.”

I Pretended to Be a Male Gamer to Avoid Harassment | Daily Life (December 11): “Things went along smoothly until I started playing at the top level of WoW (World of Warcraft). To participate, you have to join a ‘guild’ — a large group of people who can commit to playing for long sessions. Being allowed into a guild is like a job interview, and as part of that process (like proving I had access to voice chat) I had to reveal that I was a girl.”

“Lean the f*** away from me”: Jessica Williams, “impostor syndrome” and the many ways we serially doubt women | Salon.com (February 18): “After a week of intense speculation about who would be taking over “The Daily Show,” Jessica Williams addressed the rumors that she was (or at least should be) the heir apparent for host. In a series of tweets, Williams thanked people for the support, but said she wouldn’t be sitting behind the anchor desk any time soon. (…) A little while later, a writer for the Billfold responded to Williams’ announcement with a piece that claimed she was a “victim” of impostor syndrome, and that she needed to “lean in.” “

Feminist writers are so besieged by online abuse that some have begun to retire | The Washington Post (February 20): “Jessica Valenti is one of the most successful and visible feminists of her generation. As a columnist for the Guardian, her face regularly appears on the site’s front page. She has written five books, one of which was adapted into a documentary, since founding the blog Feministing.com. She gives speeches all over the country. And she tells me that, because of the nonstop harassment that feminist writers face online, if she could start over, she might prefer to be completely anonymous.”

Life Hacks for the Marginalized | Medium (February 16): “Being human is hard! It’s even harder when your humanity is brought into question on a daily basis. But don’t let that get you down! So you’re not white/straight/male/abled/cisgendered/thin/rich — that doesn’t mean your life is over! It just means it’s much, much, much, much, much, much harder.
Luckily, we have some time-saving tips that can help! By “help,” we mean “mildly mitigate your problems.” To solve them completely, try building a time machine and either engineering a whole new history that gives your people more power, or fast-forwarding to a post-patriarchy utopia.”

The War for the Soul of Geek Culture | moviepilot.com (February 16): “The irony is that while externally, geeks are being accepted as a whole, internally, the story is much different. There’s an ugly core of nastiness coming from a very vocal minority, and as geek culture continues to expand, they only grow louder. And while the nastier moments of that ugly minority are starting to be recognized and picked up by mainstream media, it’s still largely our problem. Simply put, there is a war being waged right now for the soul of geek culture. And it’s a hell of a lot uglier than you realize.”

Binary Coeds | BackStory with the American History Guys (February 6): “The idea [of] the male programmer may be a stereotype, but having a male-heavy workforce is a real issue for the industry. Companies see a big gender disparity when they look at their technical workforce, and many are asking themselves how to get more women into computer science. But when you look at the history of computer programming, the question actually looks a little different. It’s less about how to get women into computer science than about how to get women back into computing.”

#ScienceWoman Special Project | Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls (February 16): “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls is teaming up with the hit PBS Digital Studios science YouTube show It’s Okay To Be Smart to celebrate amazing women in science. We’ve got a special project planned for the beginning of March, but we can’t do it without YOU!”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Mansplaining 101: Cisadmin Edition | YouTube (December 23): “One of the keys to a welcoming team is to clear the playing field of obstacles, and one of the most common obstacles women face is mansplaining. (…) This talk will introduce ways to foster a work environment where mansplaining, and similar challenges, become a thing of the past.”

Rate my professor’s gender? | The Conversation (February 10): “A genius has electrified hair, big glasses, problems talking with mere mortals, and is white and male. (…) Now the anonymous online ranking system, RateMyProfessors.com, has been subjected to algorithmic sifting to find that genius is a term students apply to male professors at least three times the rate for women, depending on the discipline.”

Let’s Call Female Online Harassment What It Really Is: Terrorism | VICE (February 12): “They target and intimidate women with the express intention of silencing them. These attacks aren’t just “trolling.” They aren’t people just randomly lashing out. They sure as hell aren’t simple expressions of “freedom of speech.” We need to start calling things by their real names. This is gender terrorism.” [TW: death threats, harassment]

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Which Women in Tech? | Medium (February 9): “When building groups or events for “women in tech,” be honest about the limitations of your network. If a “women in tech” event is going to be comprised of white women, be clear. And if calling an event “white women in tech” makes you uncomfortable, there is more work to do.”

Stop Blowhard Syndrome | That’s What Xu Said (February 9): “Expressing a reasonable amount of doubt and concern about a situation that is slightly outside my comfort zone is normal, responsible behavior. Understanding my limits and being willing to acknowledge them is, in fact, one of my strengths. I don’t think it should be pathologized alongside the very real problem of “impostor syndrome”. In fact, it is the opposite behavior—the belief that you can do anything, including things you are blatantly not qualified for or straight up lying about—should be pathologized.”

First timer thoughts from FOSDEM15 | Medium (February 7): “But if you care about free software having a fighting chance of being able to change the world, efforts to make a more welcoming environment for women and other minority contributors are easily more impactful than all of the above.”

Marvel assembles first all-female Avengers team, the ‘A-Force’ | Mashable (February 6): “Marvel Comics, which is already light years ahead of the entertainment industry when it comes to awesome female characters, announced its first all-women Avengers team on Friday. And they are very much in charge.The A-Force will consist of She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and many others — including at least one new superhero, a “cosmically powered” heroine named Singularity.”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Ruling Update – Iron Solari League | garena (February 3): Possibly the worst inclusivity policy in the history of ever: “Each team will be allowed to have a maximum of one (1) Gay/Transgendered woman for the entirety of the tournament day.” Thankfully updated based on outcry.

Kameron Hurley: The Privilege to Publish; the Power to Persevere | Locus Online Perspectives (February 4): “the only ones of us left in this business are the writers with safety nets. The writers who have another way to eat, and have the privilege, yes, privilege, of persevering even in the face of constant rejection. I’ve been aware at every turn that I had advantages others didn’t: middle-class parents who didn’t insist I get a real career. A grandfather who paid for graduate school in a cheap foreign country. No children of my own, or parents or siblings I had to care for.”

Stop Equating Women In Tech With Engineers | TheLi.st @ Medium (February 1): “The conflation of STEM experience with ability to be “in tech” is something that seems to happen far more frequently (and reflexively) where women are concerned — yet it’s a standard that is not similarly imposed on the many, many male entrepreneurs and VCs who participate in the industry. “

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Computational Linguistics Reveals How Wikipedia Articles Are Biased Against Women | MIT Technology Review (February 2): “various researchers have kept a close eye on the way the gender bias among editors may be filtering through to the articles in the encyclopedia itself. Today, Claudia Wagner at the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Cologne, Germany, and pals at ETH Zurich, Switzerland and the University of Koblenz-Landau, say they have found evidence of serious bias in Wikipedia entries about women, suggesting that gender bias may be more deep-seated and engrained than previously imagined.”

Here’s What It’s Like For A Woman To Send a Job Rejection To A Man | Jolene Creighton on Medium (February 2): “Why we rejected him… Simply put, he’s not a science writer. That’s the only consideration that factored into our decision. Looking at his impressive list of publications, there isn’t anything even remotely on science. At least, nothing that I have seen. Admittedly, I didn’t look up every single publication. But either way, if not being a science writer isn’t a good enough reason for you, here are a few other reasons that we could have rejected him.”

#28DaysOfBlackCosplay: More Than Just A Hashtag | Black Girl Nerds (February 5): “Jamie: Why is cosplay so important to the blerd (black nerd) community?
Chaka: As Black nerds, it’s important for us to see images of each other. Things are starting to get better, but we still have so few characters of color in our comics, video games, anime, manga and movies. It can be disheartening, never seeing anyone who looks like you in the media you love so much. Being able to physically see Black cosplayers out at cons, literally wearing their fandom on their sleeves is just so intensely satisfying on a level I may not ever be able to accurately describe.”

How Using ‘They’ as a Singular Pronoun Can Change the World | Feministing (February 3): “using singular they is far more than a way to respect friends who have gender identities outside the binary. Singular they has exciting potential to be part of a radical shift in the dominant gender culture. Changing the culture may seem like a mighty task for one little pronoun. But actually, it wouldn’t be the first time that a pronoun was near the center of a momentous cultural shift.”

[warning for discussion of abuse and suicide]Twitter CEO Dick Costolo finally admits the obvious: Site has failed users on abuse | Washington Post (February 5): “Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo has never deigned to address rampant harassment on his platform, despite the frequency with which that subject makes the news. But on Wednesday, in the wake of a blockbuster radio piece by the feminist writer Lindy West, Costolo at last admitted to a fatal flaw of his platform that hundreds of critics and troll-battered tweeters have pointed out already: Twitter has become an ideal platform for harassment, in large part because the site has done so little to combat it. “We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years,” Costolo wrote, in a company memo obtained by the Verge. “

Is the Professor Bossy or Brilliant? Much Depends on Gender | Claire Miller at New York Times (February 6):”Benjamin Schmidt, a Northeastern University history professor, says he built the chart using data from 14 million student reviews on the Rate My Professors site. It allows you to search for any word to see how often it appeared in reviews and how it broke down by gender and department. The chart makes vivid unconscious biases. The implications go well beyond professors and college students, to anyone who gives or receives feedback or performance reviews.”

Fighting Sexism In Silicon Valley | TechCrunch (January 30): “As they start or join startups that are looking for funding, I sincerely hope that millennials will apply their unique ethos to their funding strategies and career decisions. I hope they seek out and partner with VCs who share their same values about gender diversity, who are unafraid to invest in woman-led startups, and who have women on staff throughout their ranks. I hope they will embrace the diversity that helps to define their generation.”

Newsweek, Allies, and Critique | Ellen’s Blog (January 30): “It’s crucial that we critique public statements on this issue. There aren’t many people who are willing to speak up, so the few voices are amplified to an unreasonable degree. This means we lack a broad, nuanced perspective that could propel us forward. If you’re speaking for a group, you should be anxious to hear how their perspective differs. You should also encourage new voices.”

Ethical Issues in the Online World | Santa Clara University (February 5): “Ironically, though the article itself focuses on the story of one particular startup founded by two women to illustrate the problem of gender discrimination in Silicon Valley, the reader has to scroll down quite a ways before getting to a photo of those two women entrepreneurs. What if those two real women had been on the cover? Their experiences were apparently seen as interesting and representative enough to illustrate the broader issue, but their faces weren’t. Instead, the key image of the piece (which, the cliché goes, is worth a thousand words), gives voice to those who demean such women.”

Quiet, Ladies. @Wadhwa is Speaking Now | Amelia Greenhall (February 3): “What can Vivek Wadhwa do if he wants to ACTUALLY help women in tech? To start, Wadhwa needs to shut up about women in tech already! (And forever, preferably. Should we start #stopWadhwa2015?) When reporters call him about women in tech, he should suggest that they speak to an actual woman in tech on the topic instead – perhaps any of the women he has invited to come visit him at his office. We women are waiting for the email that says, “Vivek recommended I speak to you instead, because you are more qualified.” Vivek could donate twice the funds raised by the women in tech book to actual tech feminist non-profits. He could credit the women interviewed in the book by asking permission to put their names and links to their work on the book’s website. He could advocate for the creation of a gender studies faculty position at Singularity University. He could talk about something (anything!) that he has actual experience with, other than women in tech. May that day come soon!”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).

Feminist Bloggers Cannot Be Your Therapists | Brute Reason (January 11): “Why are people blaming feminism–the feminism of the 1970s or 80s, no less–for failing to cure what appeared to be a serious psychological issue? Why are people claiming that the solution now is simply for feminist writers and activists to be more compassionate and considerate towards male nerds like Aaronson, as though any compassion or consideration could have magically fixed such a deeply layered set of deeply irrational beliefs?”

Bringing back the Riot Grrrl | Marlena’s Blog (January 20): “What I found is that no matter how much I read and worked at not being an asshole or finding the “right way” to say things or get my opinions across, I could never be silent enough.”

Smash Bros. Community Boots Harassing Host of Their Largest Tournament | The Mary Sue (January 20): “Over the past day or so, the Smash Bros. community has come together in a big way to denounce years of harassment by the host of the largest Smash Bros. tournament around: Apex. With Apex 2015 rapidly approaching the last weekend of January, Jonathan “Alex Strife” Lugo has been forced to step down from his position at the tournament in a huge win for safety in the fighting game community.”

Infamous, Thoughtless, Careless, and Reckless | Mark Bernstein (January 15): A series of posts discussing the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee’s decision to prohibit feminists from contributing to Wikipedia on issues related to gaming, gender, or sexuality. “The infamous draft decision of Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) on Gamergate is worse than a crime. It’s a blunder that threatens to disgrace the internet. “

Gaming while black: Casual racism to cautious optimism | Joystiq (January 16): “Freelance gaming and media writer Sidney Fussell summarized the pushback as follows: “I’ve been writing about blackness and games for about two years now and a huge majority of the negative feedback I get boils down to this: Race doesn’t belong in video games. White commenters tell me racism in games isn’t a problem. Only attention-starved reverse racists, dragging it up for clicks from white-guilt-addled gamers, still want to talk about racism. This is the burden of being a black gamer: I love games, but if I want to talk about them critically, my motives are questioned, my social ties are strained and suddenly I’m a member of the ‘PC Police’ who wants to go around ruining everyone’s fun.”

Abusing Contributors is not okay | Curious Efficiency (January 22): “As the coordinator of the Python Software Foundation’s contribution to the linux.conf.au 2015 financial assistance program, and as someone with a deep personal interest in the overall success of the open source community, I feel it is important for me to state explicitly that I consider Linus’s level of ignorance around appropriate standards of community conduct to be unacceptable in an open source community leader in 2015.”

The Elephant in the Keynote | Project Gus (January 19): “And while younger white male software developers are having their opinions panned by the respected older generation on stage, what does this mean for actual marginalised groups? If FOSS is ever going to achieve broad adoption, it has to appeal to more than a privileged few.”

OPW Successes and Succession Planning | The Geekess (January 15): “It’s been a busy winter for the FOSS Outreach Program for Women (OPW). On October 13, 2014, seven (yes, seven!) of the former Linux kernel OPW interns presented their projects at LinuxCon Europe.”

We link to a variety of sources, some of which are personal blogs. If you visit other sites linked herein, we ask that you respect the commenting policy and individual culture of those sites.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on Pinboard, Delicious or Diigo; or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).